Reconciled to God

May 19, 2024 Background Scripture: Romans 5: 1 - 1 1 Lesson Passage: Romans 5:1 - 11 Reconciliation is a response to an out of order situation. The objective of reconciliation is to restore a previous condition. In fact, it is difficult to appreciate reconciliation without understanding the previous situation. In the beginning, God created mankind to fulfill two requirements. Man was created in the image of God and according to God's likeness. Man was the part of the physical creation that was to reflect the image and likeness of God. Before the creation of man, God looked at the physical creation and said it was good. However, God did not see in the physical creation a reflection of Himself. Reflecting God was man's role. God is holy and the only way to reflect an image of God is with holiness. Therefore, mankind was created in holiness to fulfill his role. God is in His very essence a free moral agent. For man to be a free moral agent, he must have the power of decision. Adam was given one major decision he could make, and he was told what the right decision was, Adam chose to do the opposite and it became a sin for him. Holiness departed from Adam when sin entered him. Sin passed from Adam to all who are born into this world of man and woman. Many are unaware of the absence of holiness in mankind because it is the norm for us. God reveals to us what holiness is through His word. Sin in our flesh rebels against the commandments of God. Indeed, if there were no commandments from God, we would not know what sin is. God's anger will be directed towards all unholiness and unrighteousness. It is God's patience that has held back this gruesome punishment which will last throughout eternity. The solution to mankind's hopeless situation is to be reconciled with God. However, there is no way for man to reconcile his sin with holiness. Jesus was born into the world in holiness and lived as such. He was delivered to the executioners as a sacrifice for our sin. He became sin on Calvary's cross that sin might be judged and condemned by God in Him. It was the judgment of sin in Jesus that God makes available for us that we might be reconciled with Him. God raised Jesus from the dead on the third day for our justification. In Jesus Christ we become holy. There is no more separation between God and us in Jesus. God's wrath is satisfied because our sin has been forgiven in Jesus. It was the great benevolent love of God that made Jesus available as the savior for sinful mankind, In Jesus Christ, we are reconciled with God. When God places us in Jesus, then we receive the righteousness that is in Him. It is the righteousness of Jesus Christ that reconciles us with God's holiness. The Lesson Passage is a summary statement concerning justification by faith. After carefully considering Abraham's example, Paul then applied the same principle across all who are saved through faith in Jesus. Such salvation makes available three things. First, God's wrath is satisfied therefore we have peace with Godi Because of reconciliation, we are no longer God's enemy. Secondly, we have access to God's grace in which we are kept by God. We are immersed in the unmerited favor of God. Finally, we have the hope of God's glory in us. Because of the promises of God, we will one day experience and share in His glory throughout eternity. When we were without hope and destined for eternal damnation, God sent Jesus to die a sinner's death for us. In Jesus, we have the capacity to submit to God, to be led by God, and to be in right standing with God. None of this is of ourselves. It is the grace of God that has saved us from our hopeless situation and made us partakers of His righteousness. God was in Jesus reconciling the world to Himself. Robert C. Hudson May 11, 2024

Justified by Faith

May 5, 2024 Background Scripture: Romans 3 - 30 Lesson Passage: Romans 3:21 - 30 Today's lesson focuses on the Apostle Paul's brilliant presentation of a Christian's moral and legal standing before God. To reach the conclusion that is presented in the Lesson Passage, Paul began by writing about the wrath of God against all unrighteousness and unholiness in people. As divine creator and Lord of everything, God is the only judge of the entire universe. Spiritually speaking, the Jews viewed people as partitioned into two groups. The first group consisted of Jews and non-Jews who adhered to the Law of God that was given to the Jews through Moses. The second group consisted of Gentiles, or non-Jews and non-adherents to the Law. The Jewish people received the oracles of God through Moses before they were an independent nation. Their covenant relationship with God began with Abraham and passed down through Isaac and Jacob. The Jewish nation was composed of the descendants of the twelve sons of Jacob, who was renamed Israel by God. The Jews were given the written Law of God. The Law gave them an understanding of God's holiness and expectations of mankind. God's law described holiness in terms of human behavior. In addition to describing God's holiness, the Law was like a spiritual mirror for mankind. It shows our spiritual shortcomings without fixing them. Many Jews attempted to become holy by trying to live according to the precepts found in the Law, On the other hand, the Gentiles, according to Paul's observation, knew about God through observing nature and the natural order of things. Nature reflects a powerful and intelligent designer/creator. The universe could never have developed its perfect order and balance absent an intelligent creator. In other words, they knew God exists because of the things that are. Therefore, both groups were aware of God and His holiness. Their awareness of God did not make anyone holy, Jews nor Gentiles. Attempting to live by the precepts of the Law of God did not make anyone holy. People continued to be born and live in this world in sin. Sin as an affront to the holiness of God. Paul argued that this has been understood by all people throughout time. God revealed His divine wrath against all people because of human ungodliness and unrighteousness. As a result of God's wrath, humanity was condemned to be destroyed by God so that only holiness will exist throughout eternity. The Jews were condemned because the Law reveals their unholiness, but it provides nothing to take it away from them. The Gentiles were condemned because they knew of God's wrath but continued to live in ungodliness. God provided the solution to humanity's dilemma by sending One who could fulfill the righteous requirements of the Law for everyone. Jesus is the person God sent to bring deliverance to all who will accept Him by faith. Jesus was born under the Law but without sin. He lived a perfect life according to the Law. He fulfilled the righteousness of God by living a sinless life. Jesus' life on earth reflected the holiness God expected to see in mankind. Man was created in God's image and according to God's likeness. Man was to be a physical reflection of a holy and invisible God. God's reflection in man was marred after Adam sinned. Jesus, the second Adam, was born without sin and demonstrated holy living before God. Jesus' life Satisfied God's desire for holiness in mankind. God makes Jesus' holiness available to all who accept Jesus as their savior by faith. Once a person accepts Jesus as their savior, that person's faith is counted as righteousness by God. As a result, they are seen as justified by God from the punishment of eternal damnation. There is no other offering for sin that provides that for mankind. Justification is by faith alone. Robert C. Hudson April 20, 2024